Prep football: Indians move on quickly

After losing in its season opener, Hart looks to recover quickly

The Hart football team didn’t dwell very long on its 35-21 loss Sept. 2 to Tesoro High.

Instead, they’ve turned the page in preparing for tonight’s match up with Palmdale High at College of Canyons at 7:30 p.m.“We didn’t elaborate too much (on the loss to Tesoro),” said Hart head coach Mike Herrington. “We talked about what our mistakes were and went from there and tried to correct those mistakes.”

The mistakes were many last week. The offense found itself in a third-and-long on numerous occasions. Penalties added up, and turnovers plagued the team. And the offensive line allowed seven sacks of quarterbacks Connor Wingenroth and Cory Mayes.

For the second week in a row, the Indians will start Wingenroth over Mayes, the senior who missed most of preseason camp recovering from mononucleosis.

Nonetheless, Mayes is expected to rotate in at quarterback during the game.

“Before the season started Cory was the guy, but Connor has done well in practice,” Herrington said. “(The two-quarterback system) might be for a couple games, might be for one game, whatever makes our offense run.”

Whoever is under center for the Indians will be charged with scoring on a Palmdale defense that shut down the Hart offense during last season’s 42-7 loss on Sept. 9.

“We’re playing a Palmdale team that last year only gave up seven points against us,” Herrington said. “We have our work cut out against us.”

Offensively, the Indians will benefit from a talented receiving core, which was led last week by freshman Trenton Irwin, who finished with five catches for 71 yards and two touchdowns.

“(Irwin) will be a big part of (the offense),” Herrington said. “We also have some other really good receivers that we hope to get in the action. We don’t have a primary receiver. We try to take what the defense gives us week in and week out.”

Relieving pressure on the passing game will be senior running back Dylan Edwards, who finished with 85 yards on 15 carries against the Titans.

Defensively, the Indians will have to stop junior Shaun Gutierrez, who last year scored three touchdowns against Hart to lead the Falcons.

Fortunately for Hart, despite giving up 35 points last week, the defense kept the Indians in the game for nearly two quarters and played well throughout.

“We’ve talked about (Gutierrez),” Herrington said. “We’re trying to prepare to stop him and the Palmdale offense. I know they have a lot of guys coming back, but we’re just worried about ourselves right now.”

Last week, the Hart offense didn’t help itself out much, committing a costly fumble late in the second quarter that helped the Titans pull away.

This week, defeating the Falcons will require Hart’s defense to play strong and its offense to solve last week’s mistakes. But the Indians feel they’re ready, and are excited to turn the page on last week and start a new chapter Friday night.